Well, it sure ain't a Norton, but the price was right.

Got myself a Puch/Sears Allstate M125.

If anyone has any info, parts or just words of encouragement, drop a line.

Good luck with that one. As I remember it's a "twingle" - a two cylinder, two-cycle engine with a single combustion chamber.

They were popular in the UK as "learner" bikes for a while, but disappeared quite quickly when the electric-start Japanese small four strokes hit the market.

Thanks Frank,

I think it is a single, not a twingle but I am not sure. I'll find out when I crack it open! I would thrilled if it is a twingle as they are an historical oddity.

Not many of these are around outside of Austria. Looked like a fun project.

Phil

The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Motorcycles (Copyright 1977) has the following two pages dedicated to Puch:

PUCH / Austria 1903

Austria's oldest motorcycle factory. During the early years, the company manufactured motorcycles with their own 2.75 hp, 3.5 hp, and 4 hp single-cylinder and 4 hp and 6hp V-twin engines. There was also a 6 hp flat-twin, built during WWI in limited numbers. Double-piston two-strokes dominated the production programme for some years after 1923; designed by Giovanni Marcellino, they appeared with 122cc, 173cc, 198cc, 248cc, , 348cc, and 496cc capacity. The 348cc single was built only in 1938, mainly for the army. The only four-strokes made by Puch between the wars were 490cc JAP-engined sv singles in 1928 and in 1936-1938 the 792cc transverse-mounted sv flat-fours, also mainly built for the army. Smooth-running 496cc vertical twins with the four-piston two-stroke engines were made since 1931 in various shapes, among them the models Z, N, V and VL. In this case the second cylinder was standing behind the first. In 1938 a 60cc bicycle engine called Styriette came into production. Most famous of all Puch two-strokes at that period were the 248cc singles, especially the very sporting model S4, built from 1934 to 1938 with a 14.5 bhp engine. Puch built during the years racing twostrokes, including in 1924 the Monza works machines with two 122cc cylinders on a common crankcase, and from 1929 onwards watercooled 248cc double piston singles with a charging cylinder in the crankcase. These very fast machines won the German Grand Prix in 1931 as well as many other big events. Among leading Puch riders were Nikodem, Obruba, Wetzka, Medinger, Hšbel, Cmyral, Toricelli, Hunger, Nowak, Sandler, Novotny, Suchanek, Runtsch, Karner, Kiss, Lukawetz, Puch Jun., Zick, Lehmann, SchlŸpbach, Faraglia and others.

After 1945, the range of models included 123cc two-strokes with single piston engines and pressed steel frames, but many 248cc double-piston models were kept in production and now got pressed steel frames too. Improved versions were still in production in the early 1970s, such as th SGS with 2mm X 45mm bore, 78mm stroke and 16.5 bhp at 5800 rpm. Still, main production concentrated around 49cc mopeds, mofas, motorcycles and 123cc and 173cc machines with new, modern, single-cylinder and single-piston power units. Among them are various trials and moto-cross machines which gained success with riders such as Harry Everts, Walter Luft, Walter Leitgeb, Hans Sommerauer and others. Among present Puch motorcycles are the M50 Jet and M50 Monza GSL with 6.25 bhp 49cc engines, the MC50 Super with 49cc and 11.2 bhp at 11,000 rpm (moto-cross model). 123cc and 173cc versions with 23 bhp and 28 bhp and also a 246cc moto-cross Replica with 43.5 bhp at 8500 rpm.

There are eleven pictures of motorcycles shown on the two pages. The one which most resembles yours is captioned, "246cc Puch (TS double-piston Model 'SGS') 1966"

Good luck with the project. Please keep us up to date as you progress.

Al

Hey Thanks again,
Great info. It is a 125cc single (but i am hoping against logic that it is a twingle...). It was a sears cataloge bike - it has sears on the back of the seat. I probably won't do much to it for a while, it is seized as he stored it outside with no sparkplug.....
So at the very least I will pull it apart and see what state the engine is in. Perhaps order a round of rings,seals and gaskets to try to get it to run.
I'll keep you updated!

Maybe the 125 was a conventional single. I remembered a couple of friends in Seattle who had Sears/Puch 250s that were the "twingle" motor. Hope to hear more when you crack it open.

Check out the August 2008 issue of CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE. It has an article on a bloke in England that has one. The article is very informative and has some good photos. Even has a couple of sources for parts, unfortunately they're in Austria. seems like a nice little bike and the fact that it gets 75 to 80 mpg makes it quite current in todays global economy.
Godd luck with the project,
Scooter

I picked up the magazine, thanks.

I started a site to document the project. Will post big pics soon, check out my URL.

Congrats on a marvelous find there fastback!

I can't wait to see more photos.

Jason

That brings back memories. A college friend had a twingle we were most successful at starting by rolling down hills. It was a good idea not to plan any actual journey with it, only a ride as once started it would cheerfully run as long as it had fuel.
It was a lot of fun to take out on quiet Maine back roads on nice days once you were over the painful starting ritual. If we had actually had a clue or spent a few buck tuning the bike it would have done wonders.
Chris at motorcycle Wheelworks in Hayward has several of them around as well as maybe 30 classic British bikes and the odd BMW and early Ducati.
I don't remember seeing the version you have but the twingles were common when I was a kid.

I've taken some time to post some pics and information on the bike.
No time to work on it this winter!

http://nortonfastback.com/puch/index.html

I think that is the one in the recent magazine isn't it? I wonder how many they sold in the US as I don't recall seeing them.

Well I haven't gotten around to working on the Puch, but I did buy another Puch... a '66 250 SGS Allstate.

If anyone has any info let me know. I am building a resource website on Puchs and have started a message board - suspiciously like this one....

Swing by and leave a post or just take a look! http://puch.nortonfastback.com
Phil

Is that the twingle? A friend had one in college, we could rarely get it to run but when we did everybody rode it.

Tulsaalva, Does that book make any references to Motobik from Spain?